'dirt Unit' Misused Laptops: Labor

The Age

Monday November 28, 2005

JEWEL TOPSFIELD, CANBERRA

A CONTENTIOUS government information unit - dubbed the "dirt unit" by former Labor leader Mark Latham - was given 11 extra laptop computers at taxpayers' expense during last year's federal election, the Opposition says.

Labor's spokesman for public accountability, Kelvin Thomson, says the computers given to staff in the Government Members Secretariat were used for political campaigning.

"For the Department of Finance to give the Government Members Secretariat additional laptops during the election campaign is outrageous and quite improper," Mr Thomson said yesterday.

"The department did not go to the Labor Party and say, 'Here are 11 laptops to use for the election campaign'; it didn't go to the Greens or the Democrats."

According to a letter from the Department of Finance and Administration, obtained by The Age, the secretariat requested on June 29 last year that the hard drives on its laptop computers be reconfigured to allow staff to carry out duties not related to the Finance Department during the election period.

It was estimated it would be cheaper to temporarily provide 11 extra laptops than reconfigure the existing computers, the letter said.

The laptops were provided to the staff between July 17 and October 22 last year, at a cost of $1636 a month.

"It is clear the laptops weren't going to be used to send emails to their mums, they wanted to engage in hardcore political campaigning without being traceable," Mr Thomson said.

"The Liberal Party is treating taxpayers' funds as if they were their own private resource."

But a spokesman for Minister of State Eric Abetz said secretariat staff received the computers after being told that connecting their existing laptops to the main database could pose a risk to the Finance Department's IT system.

He said staff had wanted their laptops linked to the database while they were travelling during the election campaign.

The spokesman said the laptops did not have to be bought specially, but were supplied from existing department stock, and he defended their use during the election campaign.

"Every computer and every photocopier in every political office around the country is used for campaigning during an election," he said.

The secretariat, which has 11 staff and costs about $1.3 million a year, was set up in 1996 to provide information and support to Government MPs.

Labor claims the secretariat is aimed at seeking political advantage and discrediting the Opposition. It says it should be funded by the party organisation rather than taxpayers.

Mr Latham dubbed it the "dirt unit" last year, accusing the Government of using public funds to muckrake into his record as mayor of Liverpool.

© 2005 The Age

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